Clarion Olusegun
The Honourable Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Mukhtar Maiha, has said that information and communication technology (ICT) are key to enhancing animal production and traceability in the country.
This was made known in a statement released by Ben-Bem Goong, Director, Information and Public Relations of the ministry and made available to AgroNigeria.
According to the statement, the Minister made the call while responding to a team of livestock production specialists from Protein Trail Limited, who paid him a working visit in his office in Abuja on Tuesday.
Maiha explained that appropriate ICT data and relevant applications capturing the history of the animals are what is needed to close the gap in managing animal health and traceability in line with global best practices.
The Minister, while assuring the team of the Ministry’s full support interns of acquisition of land for ranching, feed and fodder, breed improvements, commended the company for their efforts towards transforming the livestock sector.
In a presentation earlier, the Executive Director of Protein Trail Limited, Olaseni Salako, explained that the new application being developed by his company contains information on animals from birth to slaughter weight, including records of the animals, in terms of colour, health history, and vaccination, among others.
“Through the use of the app, the animals can be traced up to the point where they were slaughtered.” Salako maintained.
He said that all animals must be tagged in order to trace where they are coming from and to ensure that they have veterinary certification for disease control.
“We should start tagging our animals and ensure that only standard abattoirs are allowed to slaughter animals”
The move he noted will stop cattle rustling, enhance acceptance in the international market, and help generate revenue via beef exportation.
The Executive Director also stated that the company is working towards developing a Quick Response Code for Animal Products to enable consumers to know the kind of dairy products they are buying.
